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| Washington DC |  Review on May 13, 2008: |
Jup1ter
Rating:  | Review Topic: Adjustment of Status
Our appointment was for 2 pm at the DC office, which is in Fairfax, VA. We made sure to arrive by 1:30 so we could have time to park and walk in. We parked behind the building, which I almost missed because it said "metro riders parking", but it turns out anyone could park there. Make sure to bring some cash for the parking fee! We walked from the back to the front entrance, and went through the security area with metal detectors, etc. We were instructed to go up to the second floor and "check in" at the reception desk. On the second floor, the waiting room is on the left, we walked in and handed our interview notice to the receptionist. People being naturalized were asked to sit on the left side of the room and people there for adjustment of status interviews were asked to wait on the right side.
There were quite a few people there when we checked in, and we ended up waiting until 2:40 before our names were called! I was getting nervous because people who arrived after us were being called before us, and even people we had seen go into the back had already finished and come out while we were still waiting, but when I asked the receptionist about it, she said that the time just varies between interviewing officers. So make sure you have no plans for after the interview, you could potentially be waiting an hour or more before even being called to the back. But finally our name was called.
The interviewing officer was a friendly young redheaded lady, I feel bad that I cannot remember her name right now. The whole interview was very nice and relaxed, which was really comforting. Both my husband and I were expecting a spotlight interrogation or something, haha. The interview lasted about 15 minutes. The first questions involved showing our IDs, and going over basic information like each other's name and birthdates, etc. Then she asked my husband all the questions listed in the I-485 concerning things like "Are you a terrorist?" and "Are you a member of the Communist party?" etc. Then we talked about evidence of a bonafide marriage, and we showed her all sorts of items like our lease, insurance documents, bills, joint checking account info, and our whole wedding album. She was really happy that we brought the wedding album, she said the highlight of her day was getting to see people's happy moments.
After that, she stamped my husband's passport and said "I'm happy to inform you that you've been approved. This stamp will act as a temporary green card approval for up to one year. We do not produce the cards here, so I cannot tell you for sure when you will receive it in the mail, but it most likely will be within a few weeks." She also gave us a document that stated the conditions of my husband's approval, and she highlighted two very important dates on it. She explained that because we haven't been married two full years yet, we have to apply to remove the conditions of the green card between February and May 2010.
And that was it, the whole experience was definitely more relaxed than we expected, and everyone was very pleasant!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #2861